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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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Chap. Copyright No.-O_.fc 

Shell 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



1 



THOUGHTS 



FOR 



THE LENTEN SEASON 



MRS. C. H. SMITH 

AUTHOR OF » OUTLINES OF CHURCH HISTORY," ETC. 



Si*-*"" 



NEW YORK 

JAMES POTT & CO., Publishers 

Fourth Ave. and 22D Street 

1897 




-? 



5&> 



Copyright, 1897, by 
JAMES POTT & CO. 



Press ofT. J. Little & Co. 
Astor Place, New York 



* 






TO OUR DEAR GIRLS OF 5. JAMES' 
PARISH, BUFFALO, N. Y, , THIS LITTLE 
BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED. 



CONTENTS 



I. THE MEANING OF LENT 



II. HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL 



III. REPENTANCE AND FAITH 



IV. CHRISTIAN CHARACTER 



V. THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST 



PAGE 

1 

29 



■ 45 

. 62 



I. 

XTbe /IDeanirtQ of Xent 

LENT is at hand; and as we hear it men- 
tioned, a mental response arises, varying in 
different minds, which we ourselves may hardly 
be conscious of making. " Lent! Oh dear, no 
more parties! Can't we get up something that 
will take their place ? ,: I don't believe in 
fasting; one ought to be good all the year 
round, and not crowd it all into a few weeks.'' 

' It's not for me; I haven't much time for 
fun, anyway; why should I give up that little ? ' : 

' I wonder what others are going to do; there's 
L — , she won't do much, and she'll brag of it, 
too, I know." " Dear me, Lent is coming 
again, sure enough, and there's that old fault 
of mine! I must begin to battle with it again. 
I guess I'll fine myself every time I say any- 
thing that I ought not to." ' Lent, yes, if 
one could only have a quiet time, and not have 
so many interruptions and difficulties. Why 
should it be made so hard to be good ? ' ' I 
wonder if I cannot bring others to Church with 



2 OF LENT. 

me this Lent ! I mean to try." I don't 

want to appear better I my neighbours. 

There are those good women, the X — s. — they 
don't and why should I?" Lent 

tnant of superstition; I want to be large- 
minded and liberal in my views." "Yes. I 
mean to keep Lent, and go to all the Services 
that I can. S — asked me the other day 
about the meaning of Lent, and I couldn't tell 
her. I will try to know the reason of it this 
Lent." ' I'm going without butter and sugar ; 
I supp:s^ I can't do any better; there s 
candy, too, I do love it so, — and cake. 'I 
must finish that story I am reading, and give 
my leisure c a r i g Lent for s : m ething more 
serious. ' Oh that / might grow more Christ- 
kke this Lent '. We do set:":: to come nearer to 
Him :n these soeciai Services." " Let me see, 
— I mean to go to ever/ Service, and to every 
s:::ety meeting, and take a mite-box, and go 
without what I like best a: the tame, and — and 
— I will write it all down." Tm too busy 
now, there's no use trying to do anything; when 
I have more time I will think about i:. 

Such replies as these may represent, more or 
less accurately, the feelings of some of the chil- 
dren of the Church toward the claims of Lent. 
A response there must be of one kind or an- 
other. It is not a new thing, to be met with 



THE MEANING OF LENT. 3 

wonder or curiosity, as it might be by heath- 
ens; yet let us strive to receive it again as 
though we were hearing it for the first time. 
Do we ever try to realize the deepest reason of 
all for the call to observe it ? Life seems, per- 
haps, to us, as it does to many, wholly an outside 
thing. Sunshine and blue skies, social visits 
and dainty surroundings, fill us with delight, 
which seem the normal state of things that 
must always be ours. The attractive face, the 
sweet voice, the graceful manner, the rich ap- 
parel, assure us that the person is wholly lovely. 
And the thought of an hour approaching which 
shall show these fair things as decaying and 
worthless, is turned from with a feeling of hor- 
ror and unbelief. 

* It doesn't seem to me that I ever could 
DIE," said a beautiful girl, rosy with apparent 
health, and laughing at her friends as they warned 
her against an imprudent exposure to inclement 
weather. Yet it was but a short time before she 
lay like a faded flower, arrayed for the grave. 

However, let us look at all this earthly love- 
liness, not as we fondly will it to be, but as it 
really is, the shadow of an eternal substance. 
This fair earth, beautiful in summer verdure, 
fragrant with flowers, musical with tinkling 
waterfalls and the singing of birds ; again, daz- 
zling in its drapery of unsullied snow; now 



4 THE MEANING OF LENT. 

soothing us in its quiet valleys to rest, or raising 
us to heroic thoughts and desires by its sterner 
features, its majestic mountain tops, which 
lead our eyes to the yet more beautiful o'erarch- 
ing skies ; the changing seasons ; the nights and 
days; yes, our own wonderful bodies, too — all 
are parables, object lessons, given us to study 
for a while, that we may learn something of 
the meaning of heavenly and imperishable 
things. 

" Two worlds are ours ; 'tis only sin 
Forbids us to descry 
The mystic heaven and earth within, 
Plain as the sea and sky," * 

This body of ours, so complex, and nicely 
adapted for its purpose, which, like the natu- 
ral world around us, forces a thoughtful and 
unprejudiced mind to believe in an intelligent, 
beneficent, and almighty Creator, encloses a far 
more wonderful being within. 

We have known these two beings so long as 
intimately united, we do not know how to think 
of them as separate. Yet we shall know them 
apart from each other for a time, until it 
pleases God to raise from that outer being a 
spiritual body to perfect the joy of the in- 
dwelling soul. The beauty of that body, we 

* Keble. 



THE MEANING OF LENT. 5 

may be sure, will truly represent the character 
of the soul which inhabits it. 

I read lately a little story of a young mission- 
ary, a noble soul, but deformed in body and dis- 
torted in feature, who met on a boat a girl so 
radiantly beautiful that she seemed something 
angelic. To her surprise, upon being introduced 
to her, he suggested that her presence amongst 
the sick and degraded would help them to realize 
and desire heavenly things. She inwardly re- 
volted from the idea, and was thinking how she 
could best leave him, when they noticed a com- 
motion at the other end of the boat. A larger 
vessel had struck it, and it began to sink rapidly. 
Small boats were hastily lowered, and into one 
of these the girl's father placed her. Finally, all 
but two had been rescued, the missionary and a 
poor negro woman. There was room in the 
last boat for only one more. Carefully the 
young man lowered the weeping negress into 
the vacant place ; then he turned and gazed up 
into heaven. The girl saw and never forgot 
that last look as the boat went down. The 
repulsive face was transfigured by the glorious 
soul-beauty which shone in it. A terrible 
doubt came over her as to whether her own 
loveliness, after all, was anything more than a 
mask which death would utterly destroy. 

How beautiful this human nature must have 



6 THE MEANING OF LENT. 

been in Eden, the perfect body a truthful expres- 
sion of the perfect soul ! We try to believe that 
it is still the same. We look for the friend of 
our soul in one of lovely form and face, and feel 
ourselves wronged when we find that all is im- 
perfect within, and fails to fulfil our ideal. The 
first act of disobedience in the Garden was a 
discord in the eternal harmony, and henceforth 
the instrument, man, was warped, which had 
heretofore responded in act, as well as inten- 
tion, to the slightest intimation of the Master's 
will. Human nature now became lame in walk- 
ing righteously, blind to its real good, and weak 
in fulfilling a right intention. 

What we resent in others, we can see, if we 
will, in ourselves. We strive and we fail, we 
will and we are overcome, we rise and we fall. 
How wholly disheartening ! What can we do 
with ourselves but try to believe that we are 
all right, after all, as good as others, and re- 
fuse to think more about it? Many do this, 
but let not us so fail of a great heaven of con- 
solation. 

There is One who is perfect, and that is GOD. 
He has all in Himself that our nature hungers 
for. Infinite, almighty, incomparable in wis- 
dom, in glory, and beauty, He yet pities and 
yearns over that creature of His which had set 
at naught His gracious will. Nothing but the 



THE MEANING OF LENT. 7 

most costly sacrifice would save this fallen 
nature, but that an Infinite Love freely gave. 

11 Out of the bosom of His love He spares, 
The Father spares the Son, for thee to die." 

The Son of GOD laid aside the glory which 
He had with His Father "before the world 
was," and likewise pitying, yearning, loving, He 
came to this one small world of His, to take 
our nature upon Him, with all that it can mean 
of weariness, pain, and sorrow, and death. We 
do not read that He was gay, even that He 
smiled; but we do know that He " wept," and 
1 was troubled in spirit/' And with the final 
pangs of death He bought all mankind for His 
own, that all who would, might, by union with 
Him in Baptism and His Holy Supper, partake 
of His risen Life. 

What was the change from death to life which 
the Redeemer had wrought ? A germ of spirit- 
ual life planted in the infant soul in Baptism ; a 
guardian angel given to watch over the newly 
born and cleansed; Christ's Church nursing the 
tiny seed into growth ; and then a larger gift of 
spiritual strength in Confirmation ; the growing, 
striving, longing soul thereafter to be constantly 
fed with His own Body and Blood, His Life, 
that a new and more glorious being might arise 
from the ruined state in which He found it, like 



8 THE MEANING OF LENT. 

the fabled phoenix, from whose ashes arose an- 
other of its kind, more beautiful and vigorous 
than its parent. Henceforth to the Christian 
believer this earthly life and all its surround- 
ings were wholly changed. A Father's hand 
supplied the daily portion for each one of His 
children, and so ordered every circumstance as 
best to mould and shape a lovely and enduring 
character, meet for sons and daughters of the 
King. 

A Christian poetess well expresses the filial 
feeling of the child : 

1 1 1 love to think that God appoints 

My portion day by day ; 
Events of life are in His hand, 

And I would only say 
Appoint them in Thine own good time, 

And in Thine own best way. 
All things shall mingle for my good, 
I would not change them if I could, 

Nor alter the decree. 
Thou art above, and I below ; 
Thy will be done ; and even so, 

For so it pleaseth Thee."* 

We have often watched the effect of sunlight, 
and noticed how it brings out color and beauty 
from even a barren landscape, and bathes the 
most common object with a loveliness that is 
not its own. So Christ, the Sun of Righteous- 

*Mrs. Waring. 



THE MEANING OF LENT. 9 

ness, has transfigured this common life of ours, 
and made it beautiful and full of meaning. 

" Consider it 
(This outer world we tread on) as a harp, — ■ 
A gracious instrument, on whose fair strings 
We learn those airs we shall be set to play 
When mortal hours are ended. Let the wings, 
Man, of thy spirit, move on it as wind, 
And draw forth melody. Why shouldst thou yet 
Lie grovelling ? More is won than e'er was lost : 
Inherit. Let thy day be to thy night 
A teller of good tidings. Let thy praise 
Go up as birds go up, that, when they wake, 
Shake off the dew, and soar. 

Art tired ? 
There is a rest remaining. Hast thou sinned ? 
There is a Sacrifice. Lift up thy head ! 
The lovely world, and the over- world alike. 
Ring with a song eterne, a happy rede, 
' Thy Father loves thee.' " * 

Multitudes who had existed in passive endur- 
ance of suffering from poverty and oppression, 
grasped at the Divine Hope, and gladly obeyed 
the call ; those also who had tried all the good 
which this world had to offer, and were unsatis- 
fied. Faith in the Divine promise of a future 
life, a faith unknown to the heathen world, 
enabled them to count as a trifle the loss of all 
earthly things. While they had them, they used 
them for Christ's honour, with thanksgiving; 

* Jean Inge low. 



IO THE MEANING OF LENT. 

when they were withheld, they esteemed them 
as without value, and imprisonment and death 
were even courted for His sake. And these 
things are true, not of the early believers alone. 
All that the world has since known of Christian 
courage and patient endurance and loving self- 
sacrifice were and are fruits of that Divine Life 
within, which we call the grace of GOD. 

Strange that there should ever be those who, 
while enjoying the blessings of Christianity, so 
dearly purchased, question the need, and drear- 
ily say, " I do not know whether there be a future 
life. " Without hesitation we accept the word 
of one whose character we have reason to think 
upright, and worthy of our respect and love. 
What is the character of Jesus Christ ? It 
stands out alone, unapproachable throughout 
all the ages. n I do always those things that 
please* " the Father/' Of whom else could 
anything like this be asserted, that, "as He 
spake these words, many believed on Him"? 
The assumption of perfect blamelessness would 
be quickly disproved in any one else; but even 
His enemies have been forced to acknowledge 
that His was a spotless life, and one after another 
has declared himself conquered by this Man. 

What are His words concerning Himself ? 
" I speak that which I have seen with My 
Father/ ' " I came down from Heaven, . . . 



THE MEANING OF LENT. II 

that every one that seeth the Son, and believeth 
on Him, may have everlasting life, and I will 
raise him up at the last day." " In my Father's 
house are many mansions. ... I go to pre- 
pare a place for you." M Behold, I tell you the 
truth." " If it were not so, I would have told 
you." He says of His own words, " They are 
spirit and they are life." " My words shall not 
pass away." Those earthly friends in whom we 
are so willing to place our confidence may fail us, 
their words may not be true, their promises may 
not be fulfilled. But Christ cannot disappoint 
us. He is wholly to be believed, entirely to be 
trusted, and worthy of our most devoted love. 
The early Christians showed their love and zeal 
by the care which they took that the memory of 
the sacred events should be preserved. They 
had the authority of the Jewish Church for the 
institution of times and seasons, and they desired 
to commemorate a greater deliverance than that 
from the bondage of Egypt. We can see by the 
light of history how the Christian observances 
grew out of, and were the completion or fulfil- 
ment of, those of the elder Church. Our Lord 
had said, " When the Bridegroom shall be taken 
away, then shall they fast." From the first 
the Pascha, or Quadragesimal Fast, was gener- 
ally observed, but including forty hours only, 
the time between the Crucifixionvand Resurrec- 



12 THE MEANING OF LENT. 

tion. It gradually increased in length, some 
Churches keeping three weeks, some six, and, 
where they were accustomed to keep Saturday 
as a festival day, even seven weeks were ob- 
served. This explains the origin of the Septua- 
gesima, Sexagesima, and Quinquagesima Sun- 
days. The Wednesday and Friday of every 
week were also observed as fast-days, in remem- 
brance of Christ's betrayal and crucifixion. 
The precise number of forty days was intro- 
duced about the beginning of the seventh cen- 
tury; and from that time to this it has been 
duly and universally observed, recalling multi- 
tudes of God's children from forgetfulness, 
indifference, and worldliness, to renewed peni- 
tence and a more earnest striving to follow in 
the footsteps of the Master. It is a noble 
company which we are now called upon to join 
in the Lenten Fast. Shall we not heartily re- 
spond, realizing in some degree, at least, the 
presence of that "cloud of witnesses' 1 who 
gaze with intense sympathy on our warfare 
against the world, the flesh, and the devil ? 

" Welcome, dear Feast of Lent ; who loves not thee, 
He loves not temperance nor authority, 

But is composed of passion. 
The Scriptures bid us fast ; the Church says now. 
Give to thy Mother what thou wouldst allow 

To every corporation." 



THE MEANING OF LENT. 1 3 

" Who goeth in the way which Christ hath gone, 
Is much more sure to meet with Him, than one 

That travelleth by-ways. 
Perhaps my Lord, though He be far before, 
May turn and take me by the hand, and more, 

May strengthen my decays." * 

* Herbert. 



II. 
Dow to Keep SLent well, 

11 Is this a fast to keep 
The larder leane 
And cleane 
From fat of veales and sheep ? 

44 Is it to quit the dish 
Of flesh, yet still 
To fill 
The platter high with fish ? 

44 Is it to fast an houre, 
Or ragged go, 
Or show 
A downcast look and sour ? 

44 No ; 'tis a fast to dole 
Thy sheaf of wheat, 
And meat, 
Unto the hungry soule. 

44 It is to fast from strife, 
From old debate 
And hate : 
To circumcise thy life. 

M To show a heart grief-rent, 
To starve thy sin, 
Not bin ; 
And that's t© keep thy Lent." 



HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 1 5 

We know that the forty days of Lent are a 
part of the heritage which has come to us 
through much suffering and conflict. It should 
be a precious season to us. But this is such a 
busy age, and we ourselves are so busy, that 
the time may slip away while we are planning 
how to use it. It was for this reason that our 
mother Church retained the three preceding 
weeks, Septuagesima, Sexagesima, and Quin- 
quagesima (which had been kept in some places 
before uniformity had been secured), as a time 
of preparation, in which one might form well- 
arranged plans for profiting by it. Perhaps it 
would be well to consult Church History, and 
see what use was made of it by those who es- 
tablished the custom. The sacred events were 
so fresh in the minds of those Christians who 
lived in the Apostolic age, that they could not 
help remembering them with reverential love 
and sorrow during the forty hours which in- 
cluded the time from the Crucifixion to the 
Resurrection Morn. And though every other 
Saturday in the year was kept as a festival, 
Easter Even, as well as Good Friday, was kept 
by the whole Church as a fast until cock-crow- 
ing on the morning of the Resurrection ; and the 
night was spent as a vigil, religious assemblies 
being held and Divine Services performed. It 
was also a night specially set apart for Bap- 



l6 HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 

tisms. This is ordered in the writings known as 
the Apostolical Constitutions, which were com- 
piled before the year 325 A.D. The following 
is an extract : 

" The Fast of Lent is to be observed by you 
as containing a memorial of our Lord's mode of 
life. But let this solemnity be observed before 
the Fast of the Passover. He charged us Him- 
self to fast these six days, on account of the 
impiety of the Jews, commanding us to bewail 
over them. He commanded us to fast on the 
fourth and sixth days of the week ; the former 
on account of His being betrayed, and the lat- 
ter on account of His passion. Do you there- 
fore fast on the days of the Passover, beginning 
from the second day of the week, until the 
preparation and the Sabbath, six days, making 
use of only bread and salt and herbs, and water 
for your drink. And do you abstain on these 
days from wine and flesh, for they are days of 
lamentation, and not of feasting. Do ye who 
are able, fast the day of the preparation (Fri- 
day) and the Sabbath Day entirely, eating 
nothing till the cock-crowing of the night ; but 
if any one is not able to join them both to- 
gether, at least let him observe the Sabbath 
Day. For the Lord says, speaking of Himself, 
1 When the Bridegroom shall be taken away from 
them, in those days shall they fast/ " 



HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 17 

As was before stated, the time was gradually 
lengthened, and at the beginning of the seventh 
century a uniform practice secured, in order to 
revive the piety of the earliest days of the 
Church; also to give a lengthened season of 
preparation for the Easter Communion, the 
practice of frequent Communion having de- 
clined, owing to the growing worldliness of the 
Church. This Season was also used in prepar- 
ing persons for Baptism, and penitents to be 
again received into communion, from which 
they had been cut off by the discipline of the 
Church. Every Christian was allowed to decide 
for themselves what degree and what kind of 
fasting they should practise. 

S. Chrysostom intimates that a great liberty 
was allowed men in regard to their infirmities, 
and that they were left in a great measure to 
fast at their own discretion. " Let no one," 
says he, " place his confidence in fasting only, 
if he continues in his sins without reforming. 
For it may be that one who fasts not at all may 
obtain pardon, if he has the excuse of bodily 
infirmity; but he that does not correct his sins 
can have no excuse. Thou hast not fasted by 
reason of the weakness of thy body ; but why 
art thou not reconciled to thy enemies ? Canst 
thou pretend bodily infirmity here ?" 

Some abstained from all animal food, others 



1 8 HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 

ate fish, others nothing but dry bread. But 
the general rule was the fast until evening, then 
partaking of any kind of food. In many of 
the larger Churches, religious Services were held 
every day during the Season, and on the Sab- 
bath and Lord's Day frequent Communions. 
The celebration of festivals, birthdays, and 
marriages during Lent was forbidden, also all 
public games and stage plays. " During the 
Great, or Passion, Week, special and abundant 
acts of kindness and charity were shown toward 
the poor and distressed brethren. It was also 
a time of great rest and liberty to servants. By 
the imperial laws, after the state became Chris- 
tian, all proceedings at law, civil or criminal, 
were suspended, and a general pardon be- 
stowed upon debtors and criminals. Passion 
Day, or Good Friday, was observed with peculiar 
solemnity. Besides the public worship, it was 
the special time for reconciling penitents and 
granting them absolution/ ' * 

But were there not many fanatics in those 
early days ? Yes ; every great movement has its 
extremes, which are evidences of its surplus of 
vitality. In the Church of to-day there is the 
extreme of ritualistic practice, and the opposite 
extreme of lightly esteeming the Church's laws 
and Ministry and Sacraments. As in days of 

* Bingham's Antiquities. 



HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 19 

persecution Christians were obliged to hide in 
caves of the earth, and were frequently forced 
to go without food, so afterward men retired of 
choice to these hiding-places, thinking to lead 
there a holier life. It would be strange, indeed, 
if there were not some who carried this idea to 
excess. S. Symeon Stylites is, perhaps, the 
most noted of these extremists, although there 
were many who followed his example. He is 
said to have lived for thirty-seven years upon 
the top of a pillar only one yard across, which 
he exchanged for one after another of greater 
height, until he was elevated forty-four feet 
above the ground. It is also stated that during 
the last year of his life he stood on one foot 
as a penance ; but we may regard this feat as an 
embroidery of the facts concerning him. 

We can readily see a great difference between 
such useless acts as these (if, indeed, they were 
not much worse than useless) and the simple 
earnestness of the earliest believers. Our own 
age presents such a striking contrast to anything 
of this kind! We are a luxurious, self-indul- 
gent people, averse to the endurance of hard- 
ship, self-denial, and suffering. We are not 
Spartans ; we are not (though we may think of 
some noble exceptions to the rule) beings of 
heroic faith. But we belong to the same re- 
deemed humanity, and God's grace can make 



20 HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 

us equal to whatever He may require of us. 
There may be good reasons why we cannot go 
as far in abstaining from food as they ordinarily 
did. We live in a colder country, where the 
climate is often severe, and in an age of great 
activity, both of which are wearing upon our 
bodily and mental strength. 

But there is one rule which we can all easily 
apply in regard to food. We can go without 
delicacies, sweets, which we do not take to 
nourish our bodies, but to gratify our palates. 
Does any one think that they could go without 
so easily that it is not worth while to make the 
attempt ? Try a fixed rule not to touch candy, 
cake, or desserts during Lent, and see for your- 
selves if it is not a far more difficult thing than 
you may have thought, to carry it out faith- 
fully. 

There is a little story related of two soldiers, 
a general and a corporal in the same regiment, 
who were inseparable friends, and usually acted 
as one person ; but sometimes the general had 
high aims and desires, and wise measures that 
he wished to carry out, in which he met with 
much resistance from the corporal. He felt 
that this was not a right state of things, and 
that he was the one who ought to rule. He 
loved the corporal too tenderly to wish to pun- 
ish him for insubordination, and tried to think 



HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 21 

of some plan to reduce him to obedience with- 
out exciting his active opposition. About this 
time he became much interested in the sub- 
ject of missions, and concluded to propose a 
retrenchment in good things to eat, in order 
that a considerable sum might be given as their 
joint offering to this object. The corporal lis- 
tened attentively to the plan, and, as he was 
always warm-hearted, he readily agreed to do 
his part, in giving up sugar in every form for a 
certain length of time. He did not imagine 
that he cared much for it, but then he was a 
thoughtless fellow. He also loved his ease ; for 
the very next morning he was late in arising, 
and when he came into the breakfast-room, the 
cook placed before him delicious pancakes with 
a special treat of new maple syrup poured over 
them. His usually pleasant face was clouded as 
he remembered his promise, and he said, " No, 
thank you," quite crossly, as he helped himself 
instead to bread and milk. However, a good 
run out of doors restored his spirits and quick- 
ened his appetite. On his return he found a 
friend eating chocolate drops, who offered him 
some. They looked so tempting that he took 
one. Just then that promise occurred to him. 
He hesitated a moment, then wondered what the 
friend who had offered them would think, which 
settled the matter, and in went the chocolate, 



22 HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 

and several others followed it. So the little 
corporal, who was no coward when an outward 
foe assailed him, was vanquished by this slight 
temptation. It is just to the general, however, 
to say that he talked very seriously to the cor- 
poral of the evil result which would follow if 
he could not subdue his appetites ; and many 
more attempts were made, which gradually ren- 
dered the corporal a strong helper to his gen- 
eral in resisting sin and building up a Christian 
character. 

Perhaps we may have guessed already that as 
the word corporal means body, so the two 
soldiers represent our lower and higher natures. 
The body is not to be destroyed, but trained to 
be the willing servant and helper of the soul. 
For this purpose it is important that its natural 
desires should be guided and governed by the 
soul. 

A writer on evolution has said: " In its rude 
beginnings, the soul life was but an appendage 
to the body; in fully developed humanity, the 
body is but the vehicle for the soul." 

We see many a sad illustration of the lower 
nature gaining the ascendancy in boys who can- 
not leave off smoking cigarettes; in men who 
cannot pass the open door of a saloon without 
going in to take a drink. We must also think 
of the women, as well as the men, who are 



HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 23 

slaves to the thirst for strong drink, to the 
opium habit, or to lust. Do we not know that 
there are also those who could not live without 
their strong tea or coffee; and others who spend 
in dainties an amount which would aid greatly 
in providing food, clothes, and instruction for 
the destitute in bodv and soul ? If children 
were trained to the right observance of the 
Season of Lent, they would learn the lesson of 
self-control so thoroughly, that the passing of 
fifty saloons would be no temptation to enter 
one of them. And this self-control would pro- 
ceed from a motive which would keep one stead- 
fast, — a religious principle, which has an Al- 
mighty strength to rest upon. 

There is, then, " a sweet reasonableness " in 
laying aside the little self-indulgences, in food 
and dress and light reading and amusements, at 
a time when we are trying to know and to 
govern ourselves. They tend to make us dull 
to spiritual things, pleased with ourselves, and 
full of wandering fancies which drive away 
serious thoughts. 

So far as our duties towards others will allow, 
we should, in Lent, turn awav from outward 
things, and make a study of this inner person 
of ours. And to do this, we must take some 
time everv dav. It mav be short, but if it is 
only a quarter of an hour in the morning, and 



24 HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 

the same at night, it ought to be made a regular 
rule. 

11 Sum up at night what thou hast done by day ; 

And in the morning-, what thou hast to do. 
Dress and undress thy soul : mark the decay 

And growth of it : if with thy watch, that too 
Be down, then wind up both ; since we shall be 
Most surely judged, make thy accounts agree."* 

The old saying, " Where there's a will there's 
away/' will apply here. The time gained by 
rising a little earlier in the morning, a solitary 
walk or ride, silence in the midst of a crowd of 
busy talkers, will make an opportunity, if we 
can get no other, to raise our hearts to GOD, 
and secure the disengaged mind which we need. 
We read that S. Paul "was minded to go 
afoot " when he wished to be alone. S. Chrys- 
ostom says: " Is it not thy business to read the 
Scriptures because thou art distracted with a 
multitude of other cares ? It belongs to thee 
more than to others who have not so much 
need of the help of the Holy Scriptures/ ' 
Martin Luther said that he was so distracted by 
many duties that he could not bear the burden 
without taking three hours daily for prayer and 
meditation. We may wonder how he could get 
so much time for it ; but it was probably taken 
from the hours of sleep. 

* Herbert. 



HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 2$ 

The constant prayer, " O God, show me 
myself," and the daily effort to concentrate 
our thoughts, will gradually reveal to us in our- 
selves some of those traits which we see so 
quickly in others. " He that has learned to 
know himself," says an old writer, " hath ac- 
quired a better knowledge than if the courses 
of the stars had engaged his thoughts." The 
questions, " Why am I here ? ,: " Who placed 
me here ? " H Whither am I tending ? " call for 
an answer from our own souls as they did and 
will from all mankind. Meditation naturally 
leads to prayer, that avenue of approach to 
God which is never closed against us. As we 
draw nigh to GOD, He will draw nigh to us, 
and give us strength and peace. I give here, in 
a somewhat condensed form, the thoughts of 
another upon this subject.* 

If the privilege of prayer were accorded to us 
only once in a number of years, we should long 
for the opportunity; we should prepare our 
petitions with great care and thought, and lay 
all our plans in reference to the precious occa- 
sion. It would be to us like the walled-up 
doorway in the vestibule of St. Peter's at Rome, 
which is opened only four times during a cen- 
tury, the event being marked with imposing 

* Professor Phelps; from Miss Guernsey's "Lent in 
Earnest." 



26 HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 

ceremonies by the Pope and his Cardinals, a 
wondering multitude following them through 
the new entrance for the first, and perhaps for 
the last, time. 

Because the opportunity of prayer is as free 
as the air that we breathe, we do not reflect 
upon the marvellous condescension of the great 
GOD in allowing His creatures such easy access 
to Him. I quote from a writer of the last cen- 
tury the following incident: " ' Why, then/ 
said the doctor, ' I will carry you to one of the 
greatest and highest entertainments in the 
world. Suppose I should carry you to court. 
Aye, suppose I should have interest enough to 
introduce you into the presence/ 'You are 
jesting, dear sir/ cries Amelia. ' Indeed, I 
am serious/ answered the doctor. ' I will in- 
troduce you into that Presence compared to 
whom the greatest emperor on the earth is 
many millions of degrees meaner than the most 
contemptible reptile is to him. What entertain- 
ment can there be to a rational being equal to 
this ? Was not the taste of mankind most wretch- 
edly depraved, where would the vain man find 
an honour, or where would the lover of pleasure 
propose so adequate an object as divine wor- 
ship ? With what ecstasy must the contempla- 
tion of being admitted to such a Presence fill 
the mind ! The pitiful courts of princes are 



HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 27 

open to few, and to those, only at particular 
seasons; but from this glorious and gracious 
Presence we are none of us, and at no time, 
excluded/ The doctor was proceeding thus, 
when the servant returned, saying the coaches 
were ready; and the whole company, with the 
greatest alacrity, attended the doctor to St. 
James's Church.' ' 

But can we be certain that GOD will answer 
our prayers ? He has promised to do so, and 
we must leave to Him the time and manner of 
answering them. Is He not wiser and more 
loving than we are ? Every earnest Christian 
could tell of answers to his prayers. From 
many which have been printed, I select a very 
remarkable instance, showing great faith in the 
petitioner. George Mueller, of Bristol, Eng- 
land, saw many neglected children whom his 
compassionate heart yearned over, and his great 
desire was to found an orphanage in which he 
might be able to support three hundred of 
them. He believed that God could and would 
enable him to accomplish this, if he depended 
solely upon His help. He resolved to ask no 
human being for money; but he prayed ear- 
nestly, incessantly, for this one thing. The 
answer came. He received from various 
sources unexpected funds sufficient to complete 
the work. But other needy children appealed 



28 HOW TO KEEP LENT WELL. 

to him in such numbers that he had recourse 
again and again to the help of the Almighty, 
with the result that a second and third orphan- 
age (the three buildings accommodating a thou- 
sand children) were built and maintained, with- 
out a request for any human aid. 



III. 
TRepentance an& ffaitb. 

M O wad some power the giftie gie us, 
To see oursels as ithers see us! " 

So wrote the poet Burns. It would be a very- 
disinterested friend, or else an enemy who wished 
to wound us in a tender spot, who would ven- 
ture to show us any evil in ourselves. When a 
schoolgirl, I remember making a compact with 
some dear companions to tell the faults which 
we could see in each other. However, when it 
came to the point, I could not summon up 
courage enough to do so, and do not remember 
that the others mentioned more than the slight- 
est of failings. Our physical frame is a type of 
the moral and spiritual. Certain diseases have 
always been considered as striking types of 
sin : palsy, which renders the body helpless ; 
and leprosy, which gradually eats out the sound- 
ness and purity of the flesh. A diseased part 
of the body is usually very sensitive to the 
touch, and we dread the probe; so it is with 
the spiritual nature affected by sin. I once 



30 REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 

knew a girl (not brought up in the Church, how- 
ever) who declared that it was some years 
since she had committed a sin. My cousin, 
who was an old acquaintance of hers, afterward 
made the comment: " I suppose she doesn't 
think that being so angry that she cannot speak 
to one who has offended her is a sin." 

We may think that we do not wish to be 
hypocrites, and that we really cannot tell what 
we have thought, said, or done that is very 
wrong. However, we can look at the costly 
Sacrifice which was necessary to redeem each 
one of us, until we learn more of ourselves. 
The result of looking at our spiritual nature 
with constant prayer that we may know our- 
selves, naturally leads to repentance. We do 
not need to learn its definition, and to be in- 
structed as to its meaning. God Himself has 
taught us by many an object lesson, from in- 
fancy up to mature years. The untruth, anger, 
greediness, or self-will of childhood; the re- 
proach of a conscience yet tender, oppressed by 
the feeling that the parent who loved us had 
been made to suffer by our naughtiness, yet 
must punish us to make us better; the fear of 
the punishment ; the sorrow which followed ; the 
confession and asking for forgiveness ; the prom- 
ise Hot to do so again ; the love which restored 
us so gladly to favour and happiness — all these, 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 3 1 

unconsciously to ourselves, have taught us over 
and over again what repentance toward God 
meant, before we could define the word. We 
are w r onderf ully made ; we are not machines to 
do His will, whether we will or no. God is 
very patient with the work of His hands. His 
arms are ever open to receive us. He calls, 
again and again, by gentle blessings, by sharp 
afflictions, " Return, return ;" but He will not 
force us to come. The Lord Jesus breaks down 
no barrier between Himself and us which we 
do not wish to have removed. 

Still He stands at the door and knocks. The 
watching angels wait for our response, and per- 
haps our guardian angel helps on, in viewless 
ways, t'he work of repentance which is slowly 
progressing within us. For it is a lifelong 
work. The " joy in the presence of the angels 
of God over one sinner that repenteth ,> is 
not confined to on^e who is a great sinner in the 
estimation of men. 

Our mother Church bids all her children to 
pray for " true repentance/ ' and to say, " I will 
arise and go to my Father/ ' The greatest 
saints, who have known the most of the work- 
ings of their own hearts, feel most deeply their 
sinfulness. "Alas!" says good Bishop Hall, 
" our repentance needs to be repented of." 
The test of repentance is amendment. We are 



32 REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 

to be " dead to sin, and renewed in the spirit of 
our minds." 

It is related of one of the worthiest of the 
ancients, that, after his conversion, on behold- 
ing one of his former evil companions approach- 
ing him, he fled. His former intimate called 
after him, V Whither fliest thou? It is //" 
Without slackening his speed he returned an- 
swer, " But /am not // " Luther called upon 
sinners, as the first effort in the direction of re- 
pentance, to go back to their Baptism and stand 
upon that before God. We are not only the 
creatures of His hand, but we are in covenant 
relation to Him, and have the special claim of 
children adopted into His family. This was 
done for most of us before w r e were conscious 
of the high privilege. 

The Repentance and Faith were promised 
then which we were afterward to desire and 
fulfil. Both are the gift of God, but neither is 
to be attained without effort on our part. 
What, are we to blame, if we cannot believe ? 
Yes, if we are wilfully blind ; if we have not 
sought to nurse and strengthen our feeble faith 
into a strong and healthy growth, by the use of 
all the means which GOD has given us — prayer, 
the study of God's Holy Word, and the fre- 
quent reception of the Holy Communion. Al- 
though our sponsors promise "both" for us, 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 33 

God Himself has taught us the meaning of 
faith, as of repentance, in our childhood. The 
father and mother represent to the child wis- 
dom and power and guardian care and guid- 
ance. With them he is safe from every evil, 
sure of everything that he needs. His faith in 
them is unbounded. Their actions are his ex- 
ample, their sympathy his inspiration, their love 
his best reward. The little child in his moth- 
er's arms, says a writer, teaches us how we 
should depend upon GOD. He looks out on the 
world, smiling and happy, interested in what is 
going on, though only partly understanding it ; 
but at a sudden noise or disturbance, he in- 
stantly and instinctively turns round and clings 
to his mother. The better the parents are, the 
more perfectly do they represent God to the 
child, and prepare him to live a life of faith. 
S. Francis de Sales tells us that " there are birds 
which hatch the eggs of other birds of the 
same species, and rear a brood which is not their 
own ; but when a bird thus reared, happens to 
hear the cry of its own real mother, by a mar- 
vellous operation of instinct it flies toward her, 
and takes its place under her wings. Even so 
a human heart, though reared and nourished 
under the wings of Nature, amidst the material 
and transitory objects of the earth, yet no sooner 
hears a true representation of the Heavenly 
3 



34 REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 

Father than it feels drawn toward Him by a 
spiritual instinct, tha operation of which shows 
that it was made for GOD originally, and that 
in God only can it find rest. " We cannot live 
a life of faith if we are absorbed in the things of 
this world ; if, like the man with the muck-rake 
in Bunyan's parable, we are searching for earthly 
treasure so intently that we cannot find time 
to raise our eyes and behold the angel with the 
golden crown. The saints of God, which the 
Holy Scriptures give as our examples of faith, 
were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, for 
they looked for a better country — a heavenly. 

Arch-Bishop Trench, in one of his poems, 
gives a striking thought of S. Augustine's, 
which we may vary and enlarge upon with 
profit. The voyager upon life's sea makes his 
temporary abode in the ship as pleasant as pos- 
sible, furnishing his cabin with many comforts 
and conveniences, perhaps even decorating it 
with beautiful pictures and silken hangings; 
also inventing amusements and occupations, 
that the days of passage may not be weari- 
some. But if the traveller were to become so 
absorbed in the attractive things with which he 
had surrounded himself; so intent on the work 
of embroidering its hangings, or planning to 
enlarge and enrich it; or so much interested in 
the games and songs which form a part of its 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 35 

daily pleasures that he should forget the land 
toward which he was hastening, and be terrified 
and dismayed at the news that the haven was 
in sight, and a boat approaching to take him 
ashore, should we not exclaim, " What blind- 
ness! What folly! " Yet are we not in danger 
of passing " the time of our sojourning here " 
in much the same manner ? Oh for the eyes 
of faith " to take true measure of our eternal 
treasure " ! We need to pray, as the Apostles 
did, " Lord, increase our faith," and He will 
strengthen its feeble growth, and make it such 
as shall remove mountains of unbelief. 



* ' What thou of God and of thyself dost know, 
So know that none can force thee to forego ; 
For ah ! his knowledge is a worthless art, 
Which forming of himself no vital part, 
The foremost man he meets with readier skill 
In sleight of words, can rob him of at will. 
Faith feels not of her lore more sure nor less, 
If all the world deny it or confess : 
Did the whole world exclaim, ' Like Solomon, 
Thou sittest high on Wisdom's noblest throne,' 
She would not, than before, be surer then, 
Nor draw more courage from the assent of men. 
Or did the whole world cry, ' O fond and vain ! 
What idle dream is this which haunts thy brain ? ' 
To the whole world Faith boldly would reply, 
' The whole world can, but I can never, lie.' "* 

* Trench. 



36 REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 

In these days there are many who doubt 
what they had been brought up to believe. 
They think that there is nothing certain. There 
are so many attacks upon " the Faith once de- 
livered to the Saints* ■ that nothing is left to 
rest upon; and not being well " grounded and 
settled," they are " carried about with every 
wind" of opposition. 

The so-called Higher Criticism of the Holy 
Scriptures (we may remember for our comfort) 
is, after all, only a conjecture. Its methods 
applied to any other writings would demolish 
them, and can be shown to be absurd in many 
instances. Much of the power of investigators 
who seek to disseminate the results they have 
arrived at, comes from their habit of stating as 
settled facts the theories which they have 
formed. For instance, they have stated that 
" it is now certain that Moses was not the au- 
thor of the Pentateuch." Yet within the past 
few years these scholars have changed their con- 
victions, and now seem to agree that it was writ- 
ten by some Moses, although a few still claim 
not by Moses the Law-giver. " All scholars 
are agreed upon this," is the beginning of an- 
other statement, upon which one signing himself 
" Senex " to a late article published in " The 
Churchman" makes this comment: " When 
this expression is sifted, we find that ' all schol- 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 37 

ars ' mean the writer and a few who agree with 
him." One is reminded of the printed words 
of a prominent artist, that M no one now be- 
lieves in angels." Is such a statement true, 
when the Bible is full of the accounts of their 
ministries, and millions of Christians accept it 
as the Truth ? What kind of a character is that 
which would deliberately make such an asser- 
tion ? Who are the persons who ask from us 
so much confidence in themselves ? Are they 
those who have shown by their lives of holiness 
and self-denial their love toward GOD and man ? 
I will let Mrs. Oliphant, a well-known English 
writer, answer the question for us. 

" We are told that the successive histories [of 
the Old Testament], having now been exposed 
to the researches of modern criticism, have 
been found to be untrustworthy, and that all 
our views of historical truth, and all our faith in 
ancient and sacred personages, must be given 
up. The labours of half a dozen learned Ger- 
mans, working by no light except that of their 
own genius, upon the most ancient literature 
in the world, amid all the difficulties attending 
research in a language which contains nothing 
else with which to compare or collate the works 
under examination, and belonging to a period 
when language was being formed, and when 
science, either in that or in any other region, 



38 REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 

did not exist, form the sole standing-ground for 
this demand. It is a blind confidence which is 
required by them, not an intelligent faith. 
When we say that these writers are inspired by 
dubious motives, we mean that they are moved 
by a foregone conclusion, the determined con- 
viction that everything which is based on super- 
natural influences, and records communications 
between GOD and man, is necessarily untrue; 
which is a very large assumption to begin with. 
There are but two ways which I can recognise in 
literature, of producing a recognisable and gen- 
uine human being : the one is by the tale of his 
life as it happened ; the other is by the effort of 
genius conceiving and creating such a man, 
under great laws of truth to nature, which can- 
not be transgressed. And the history of the 
Bible is, above all things, biographical, the rec- 
ords of individual lives. These men are no 
things of shreds and patches, but human beings 
far more clearly distinguishable, far more real, 
than the moles of erudition who poke about the 
roots of all history, and endeavour to make the 
world as blind as themselves. I have no claim 
to set myself forth as one who has any authority 
in these matters, but I may say on my own part, 
what every individual has a right to say, that 
to transfer my faith and confidence from the 
writers of the Old Testament to the Herrn 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 39 

Wellhausen, Kuenen, etc., would seem to me 
the wildest insanity. Moses I know and Sam- 
uel I know, but who are these ? " 

In a biographical sketch of a prominent Eng- 
lish layman, George Romanes, published by S. 
Andrew's Brotherhood, it is noted that he was 
one who, from the results of his studies in 
science, became an unbeliever. He was a 
writer of many works on scientific subjects. 
But with increasing powers of mind and deeper 
study, he came back to belief in a personal God 
as a necessity to account for what he saw around 
him in the universe. The belief in a Divine 
Saviour followed, and before his death he be- 
came a communicant of the Church. The fol- 
lowing affecting verses were penned by him : 

44 Although mine eyes may not have fully seen 
Thy great salvation, surely there have been 
Enough of sorrow and enough of sight 
To show the way from darkness into light ; 

Enough of sorrow for the heart to cry, — 

4 Not for myself, nor for my kind, ami!' 

Enough of sight for Reason to disclose, 

The more I learn, the less my knowledge grows." 

One must respect and feel much sympathy for 
such an honest doubter as this one. But when 
a scholar commences his work of destruction by 
taking for his foundation principle that nothing 



40 REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 

came from God ; there is no supernatural ; com- 
munication between God and man is impossi- 
ble, and therefore could not be ; may we not 
rightly apply to him the words which Jean 
Ingelow represents Noah as saying to the men 
of his time: 

"Ye do not love your Father, 
Therefore ye would not have it so." 

The men who have given up all for Christ's 
sake do not seem to be troubled with doubts of 
His presence and power. " My GOD, how ten- 
der Thou art ! " exclaimed Hannington as he was 
painfully working his way through forests and 
across deserts to the interior of Africa. Paton, 
when alone amongst savages on a hostile island, 
declared that he had never felt so strongly the 
comfort and support of Christ's presence as he 
did there. 

The writer of a letter to a young Churchman, 
whom I have already quoted, says, in answer to 
his doubts: " Even if we were to allow, which 
we do not for a moment, that our Blessed Lord 
had so emptied Himself of His eternal glory as 
to be liable in His human nature to be mis- 
taken, we know that after He had risen from 
the dead, and was in His glorified Body no 
longer subject to human imperfections, He 
* opened the understanding ' of His Apostles 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 41 

1 that they might understand the things which 
were written in the law of Moses, and in the 
Prophets and in the Psalms, concerning ' Him- 
self; thus setting His seal to their truth. He 
also promised to send the Holy Spirit, who 
would bring all things to their remembrance, 
and guard them from mistakes in witnessing to 
the truth." 

Can one hesitate as to where they should 
place their confidence ? The criticism of the 
Holy Scriptures is the product of an irreverent 
age, and its authors are responsible for the de- 
struction of faith and its results in many a heart 
and life. "Now what have you got left?" 
said a philosopher, after overturning, as he 
thought, all upon which an ignorant man had 
rested his faith. " Sire, the stars," answered 
the peasant. And there is always that left 
which is unanswerable. 

In every age, when the Word of GOD has 
been attacked, GOD has raised up defenders of 
the Faith. One of the most profound thinkers 
and keen observers of our own time, the Hon. 
Mr. Gladstone, entitled, by his station, his 
great age, and noble character, to our confi- 
dence and respect, has taken up his pen in de- 
fence of the Creation Story given in the first 
and second chapters of the Book of Genesis. 
It has been stated by objectors as in contradic- 



42 REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 

tion with the laws and facts of nature, and that 
attempts to reconcile them are useless and 
irrational; thus seeking to close the question. 
He declares that the question is not closed, and 
that their condemnation is premature, and not 
well founded. He gives as his opinion that too 
much has been conceded to the scientist in our 
day. And then he proceeds with powerful 
arguments for the truth and beauty of the Di- 
vine Revelation. " A clergyman in Denver, 
Col., in order to remove the skepticism of a 
young man who agreed to accept Gladstone's 
belief, wrote to the latter on the subject, and 
although the inquiry was made at the height of 
the election excitement, the * Grand Old Man • 
sent this reply, in his own handwriting: 'All I 
write, and all I think, and all I hope, is based 
upon the divinity of our Lord, the one central 
hope of our poor, wayward race/ " 

Some years ago, when critical investigations 
were at their height, several English Bishops 
issued a statement subscribed with their names, 
declaring their undiminished reverence for and 
belief in the inspiration of the Bible, and con- 
demning the work of its dissection. Within 
the last few years researches in eastern lands 
have resulted in discoveries which throw ad- 
ditional light upon, and confirm the truth of the 
Holy Scriptures, just at the time when such 



REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 43 

proofs are needed. Thus GOD vindicates the 
truth of His Words, and confirms our faith. 

Let us now go back for a few minutes to the 
records of primitive faith and devotion. Lent 
was the special season for inculcating repentance 
and faith. It is thought that the first day of 
Lent received its name from penitents (who 
had been excommunicated and desired to do 
penance) appearing in the Church clothed in 
sackcloth, and with ashes on their heads. Also 
it was a time for instructing those who were to 
be baptized, in the rudiments of the Faith. 
The selections which will close our thoughts on 
this subject are from writers of the first and 
second centuries. 

From the first Epistle of Clement, written 
probably about A.D. 97 (Phil. iv. 3): " These 
things, beloved, we write unto you, not merely 
to admonish you of your duty, but to remind 
ourselves. For we are struggling on the same 
arena, and the same conflict is assigned to both 
of us. Wherefore let us give up vain and fruit- 
less cares, and approach to the glorious rule of 
our holy calling. Let us look steadfastly to the 
Blood of Christ, and see how precious that Blood 
is to GOD, which, having been shed for our sal- 
vation, has set the grace of repentance before 
the whole world. Let us turn to every age that 
has passed, and learn that from generation to 



44 REPENTANCE AND FAITH. 

generation the Lord has granted a place of re- 
pentance to all such as would be converted to 
Him. He says, ' If ye turn to Me with your 
whole hearts and say, Father, I will listen to you 
as to a holy people. ' Desiring, therefore, that all 
His beloved should be partakers of repentance, 
He has established these declarations. Where- 
fore let us yield obedience to His excellent and 
glorious will; and imploring His mercy and 
loving-kindness, while we forsake all fruitless 
labours, and strife, and envy, which lead to 
death, let us turn and have recourse to His com- 
passions. M 

From the Epistle of S. Polycarp to the Phil- 
ippians, written about A.D. 150: 

11 The strong root of your faith, spoken of in 
days long gone by, endureth even until now, 
and bringeth forth fruit to our Lord Jesus 
Christ. The blessed and glorified Paul wrote 
you a letter, which, if you carefully study, you 
will find to be the means of building you up in 
that faith which has been given you. Stand 
fast, therefore, in these things, and follow the 
example of the Lord, being firm and unchange- 
able in the faith, loving the brotherhood, being 
attached to one another, joined together in the 
truth, exhibiting the meekness of the Lord in 
your intercourse with one another, and despis- 
ing no one." 



IV. 

Cbristian Cbaracter, 

" There are, in this loud, stunning tide 

Of human care and crime, 
With whom the melodies abide 

Of the everlasting chime ; 
Who carry music in their heart, 
Through dusky lane and wrangling mart ; 
Plying their daily task with busier feet, 
Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat." * 

Faith which works by love is a living faith, 
and shows itself in the growth of Christian char- 
acter. An artist once thought that he would 
produce a more perfect work of art than had 
ever before been seen, by copying the arm of 
one beauty, the hand of another, the foot of a 
third, the eyes, the lips, the chin of others, and 
thus create an exquisite creature which should 
ravish all hearts. But he found to his dismay 
that his combination was positively ugly. In 
like manner, many persons make a patchwork 
of character, by attempting to imitate virtues 
which attract them in others, and then find that 

*Keble. 



46 CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

they have somehow made a mistake. The rea- 
son of this is, that genuine Christian character 
is a growth. In nature GOD shows us a type of 
ourselves in the growing plant which slowly de- 
velops from the seed into the tender shoot with 
hidden rootlets ; then one little leaf after an- 
other appears until the bud forms, which in 
time will develop into the flower, beautiful and 
fragrant, and having within itself the power to 
bring forth other lives as lovely as itself. Our 
Blessed Lord seems to call our attention to this 
type when He says that " Solomon in all his 
glory was not arrayed like one of these ' blos- 
soms. The good man in Holy Scripture is 
often likened to a tree which, by slow develop- 
ment, attains a strength sufficient to withstand 
the fury of opposing elements, and becomes a 
shelter from storm and heat, and the dispenser 
of many blessings. Such a tree I remember, 
which did not show its leafage as early as others 
in its neighbourhood, but excelled them all ; a 
young oak, often remarked upon w r ith pleasure 
on account of its symmetry, its strength, and 
beautiful foliage, calling to mind the words of 
the Psalm: " He shall be like a tree . 
that will bring forth his fruit in due season.' ' 
In the same Book of Psalms, the children of 
God's servants are spoken of as " olive plants; ,: 
M our sons, as plants grown up in their youth." 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 47 

" The saints above are stars in Heaven : 
What are the saints on earth ? 
Like trees they stand whom God has given, 
Our Eden's happy birth. 

11 Faith is their fixed unswerving root, 
Hope their unfading flower, 
Fair deeds of Charity their fruit, 
The glory of their bower." * 

Bishop Coxe compares woman to a tree, in 
the following beautiful lines: 

" O woman is a tender tree ! 

The hand must gentle be that rears 
Through storm and sunshine, patiently, 
That plant of grace, of smiles and tears. 

" Let her that waters, at the font, 

Life's earliest blossoms, have the care ; 
And where the garden's Lord is wont 
To walk His round — Oh keep her there. 

" E'en like the first warm sun of May, 
Or, to the daisy, April showers, 
Her earliest lesson — how to pray, 
Clothes the young soul with fragrant flowers. 

4< Then, planted by the altar's pale, 
The Church, with catechising art, 
Trains to the chancel's trellised rail 

The wandering tendrils of the heart." f 

A tree or plant to grow into strength and 
beauty must be firmly rooted. It is of vital 
importance what a person believes, because faith 
* Keble. f ' ' Christian Ballads. " 



48 CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

is the root of the Christian ; and unless the roots 
take deep and firm hold of the soil, we know 
that the plant will be of feeble and sickly growth. 

Look at the superstitious fears, the lack of 
compassion, the crime which is considered 
meritorious, in the life of a heathen, all of which 
spring from a false faith; think of the pride 
and self-will and ingratitude which a life in a 
Christian land without faith in Christ must ex- 
hibit. Everyone must have some kind of a 
creed, notwithstanding statements to the con- 
trary, for our acts are the result of our opin- 
ions. 

From the roots the sap ascends through the 
branches into each little twig ; so the life of 
Christ, from a true faith in Him, quickens the 
soul in every part. Without His life within us 
we are spiritually dead, however great an effort 
may be made to show the fruits of a living tree. 
The Divine Gardener rejoices in His garden; 
He prunes His trees, and for some He pleads 
that they may be spared a little longer, in order 
that they may bring forth fruit. There are 
many different kinds of trees, of equally beau- 
tiful and healthy growth, and an infinite variety 
of flowers. We can hardly say which is the 
loveliest, the fair and stately lily, the blushing 
rose, the lowly, fragrant violet, the typical pas- 
sion flower, the wax-like cactus, they are so 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 49 

different in character. And in this diversity 
they symbolize our individuality. Our beauty 
of character does not consist in each striving to 
be like a lily or a rose, but in each so using the 
gifts which GOD has given us, in the place where 
He has planted us, that we may glorify Him in 
becoming what He wishes us to be. As no two 
faces are exactly alike, so neither are characters. 
Where one is naturally silent, thoughtful, and 
studious, with a fondness for being alone, an- 
other is happiest when surrounded by friends, 
and at his best when working with others. 
One is easily touched by pity for any kind of 
distress, tender and skilful in ministering to the 
sick; another specially loves to care for and 
teach little children. There is the artist na- 
ture, delighting in all beauty of form and 
color, and finding the greatest happiness in re- 
producing it on canvas; and there, again, one 
whose love of art shows itself in elaborate de- 
signs executed with the needle. Here we find 
the good fairy of neatness and order, the care- 
ful housekeeper, thrifty and economical. One 
is fond of out-of-door life, hardy and without 
fear; another is very timid, but trustful and 
conscientious. There we see the organizer; 
here the persevering plodder, willing to carry 
out the other's plans. And these opposites 
seem often attracted to each other. We should 



$0 CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

indeed show all virtues in some degree, but 
each has his or her characteristic trait or gift, 
which marks their individuality, and determines 
their vocation. Christian character means that 
these distinguishing traits are consecrated to 
Christ's service. Are ours ? If we spend much 
time over some pursuit, cultivate some gift with 
care, feeling that we can do our best in that 
special direction, do we seek first of all for 
God's blessing upon it, and offer the first 
fruits, something of the best that we can do, to 
His service ? If this were so, should we not 
have a large number who could play the organ 
and sing at week-day Services, trim the Church 
for festivals, and keep it in beautiful order, 
using their skill in needle-work to enrich His 
Sanctuary, and helping their Rector in every 
other department of Church work ? Would not 
the Church be well filled, even at week-day 
Services ; and on Sundays would anything keep 
us away from the morning and evening worship, 
but the greatest necessity ? We can each give 
something to the Church of GOD which it would 
not have without our efforts. 

But how can we know that we are growing ? 

" Would' st thou the life of souls discern? 
Nor human wisdom nor divine 
Helps thee by aught beside to learn ; 
Love is life's only sign. 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 5 1 

The spring of the regenerate heart, 
The pulse, the glow of every part, 

Is the true love of Christ our Lord, 
As man embraced, as God adored."* 

Love is used here in its large sense, as S. Paul 
uses it in his beautiful description of charity, 
which is pure, sincere, humble, and contented, 
full of trust and hope toward GOD; modest, 
gentle, kind, unselfish, patient, forgiving to- 
ward men; an array of many virtues in one. 
Let us take the first cluster of Christian graces, 
separate and examine them more closely. 
Truth or sincerity is the virtue upon which all 
others rest, and if that is lacking, all is worth- 
less; an appearance of life and beauty which 
will not endure any searching test. Our Lord 
had loving kindness for every sinner, excepting 
those who were insincere. To those He said, 
M Woe unto you, hypocrites ! M As this virtue 
is so very important, we ought to guard against 
any approach to untruth. Perhaps the most 
common is by exaggeration. It makes a story 
so much brighter to add a little to it. It often 
seems as if we could not impress another with 
the pleasure and astonishment which we have 
felt, without extravagant expressions. But our 
Lord says, " Let your yea be yea, and your nay, 
nay ; for whatsoever is more than these, cometh 

* Keble. 



52 CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

of evil/' That is, let your words be sincere; 
say what you mean. One great evil of the 
Roman Church is the allowance of falsehood if 
it is intended to serve a good purpose. " Let 
us do evil that good may come." Simplicity 
or naturalness is a part of sincerity, a childlike 
spirit that does not strive for effect nor seek 
applause. Purity is an essential of Christian 
character, and, oh! how sacredly we should 
guard our innocence of evil. " Keep thy heart 
with all diligence/ ' says the wise man; and the 
avenues to it are through the eye and ear. Let 
us turn quickly from the sight of anything which 
may suggest impure thoughts ; sometimes these 
are on bills posted up in our streets, sometimes 
in books and papers. If they are of a doubtful 
character, they should never be read. The 
unclean literature which abounds is one of the 
great evils of our day, which those who desire 
the welfare of the young are striving to rem- 
edy. The stain left by such contamination sinks 
deep, and no unaided effort of ours can remove 
it. The Blood of Christ can alone wash it out 
and obliterate the remembrance. 

A young girl who had resolved never again to 
read anything that was impure, found, to her 
dismay, that she could not eradicate from her 
mind the remembrance of what she had read ; 
but repeating, over and over, " Jesus Christ my 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 53 

Saviour/' put the evil fancies to flight. Ancient 
stories and legends contain many allusions to 
the fear felt by Satan on hearing the name of 
Christ. Certainly Satan would soon cease to 
tempt persons where the only effect would be to 
turn their minds to Christ as their refuge. In 
the Holy Communion we receive from Him 
fresh supplies of purity to counteract any defile- 
ment which we may have contracted. The 
daily papers have much in them which is unfit 
to be read, chiefly the details of horrible 
crimes, which cannot but be an injury to our 
minds and hearts. An excellent lady, who was 
the principal of a girls' school, used to advise 
her pupils to read only the telegraph reports, 
and things of that nature. Modesty is the out- 
ward part of purity; the desire not to be con- 
spicuous, not to attract attention ; and it is the 
connecting link between that virtue and humil- 
ity, for it partakes of both. 

Ancient Christian writers used to exhort their 
women to be diligent and modest, adorning the 
home, but careful not to attract general atten- 
tion when abroad. They are bidden to study 
the character of the virtuous woman given in 
the thirty-first chapter of Proverbs ; and it is a 
good example for our own imitation. Humility 
is often called the greatest of Christian virtues, 
perhaps because it is so difficult of attainment. 



54 CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

Also, because one may practise the virtue of 
diligence, of benevolence, too, without being a 
Christian; if the motive be the service of 
Christ, they become Christian virtues. But hu- 
mility can have only one motive, the honour of 
God by submission to Him. Pride would ex- 
alt ourselves and our own will; humility would 
refer to GOD in everything. A prayerful spirit 
goes with humility, for if we are lowly in heart, 
we shall not depend upon ourselves, but upon 
God, and shall go to Him with our small 
needs as well as large ones, and so form the 
habit of prayer, of realizing God's Presence 
and power to help us. This brings in trustful- 
ness and cheerful contentment as a natural re- 
sult. We may not expect to receive the bless- 
ings which we ask for if we cannot trust the 
Fatherly goodness which has promised all 
things. And we cannot be at peace if we are 
constantly fearing that some harm may happen 
to us. The Catechism teaches that it is our 
Christian duty " to put our whole trust in 
Him. ,, If we could only do that, we should be 
happy amid all " the changes and chances of 
this mortal life." Our fears of being alone, of 
thunder-storms, of burglars, and many other 
things, would disappear forever if we were con- 
vinced that God is constantly guarding and de- 
fending us. We read in our Bible and Prayer 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 55 

Book a great deal about trust in GOD ; but do 
we try to put it into practice in our daily lives ? 
And if we do not thus trust in Him, what right 
have we to expect that He will continue to care 
for us in each event of our lives ? " The ship 
has sprung a leak, and we shall all be drowned," 
said a passenger to the captain's child, who was 
in her berth for the night. " Is father on 
deck?' 1 ' was her question, and receiving that 
assurance, she said, " Then it's all right," and 
was soon fast asleep. Have we not as much 
reason to trust our Heavenly Father ? " Bet- 
ter hath He been for years, than our fears." 
With trust is cheerful contentment, bearing a 
thankful heart which always sees the sunny 
side, and counts up blessings, and takes the 
seeming evil as a blessing in disguise. 



Some murmur when their sky is clear 

And wholly bright to view, 
If one small speck of dark appear 

In their great heaven of blue ; 
And some with thankful love are filled, 

If, streaming from the light, 
One ray of God's good mercy gild 

The darkness of their night. 

In palaces are hearts that ask, 

In discontent and pride, 
Why life is such a thankless task, 

And all good things denied ; 



56 CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

And hearts in poorest huts admire 

How Love has in their aid, — 
Love that not ever seemed to tire,— 

Such rich provision made." * 

Perhaps we do not think of joy as a Christian 
duty, yet it is mentioned as one of the fruits of 
the Spirit. 

44 It is a comely fashion to be glad, — 
Joy is the grace we say to God." 

How much God has given us to make our 
stay here happy, although it is but for a few 
short years ! If we were shut into a dungeon and 
doomed to work a treadmill, with just enough 
to sustain life, the promise of an eternity of 
freedom and joy beyond might well make us 
esteem this a light affliction; but GOD pours 
lavishly upon all His creation His good gifts, 
that we may know His loving-kindness toward 
us. 

44 Thou that hast given so much to me, 
Give one thing more, a grateful heart. 

44 Not thankful when it pleaseth me ; 
As if Thy blessings had spare days : 
But such a heart, whose pulse may be 
Thy praise." f 

Let us now look at the second cluster of graces, 
which grow out of the love of God, and more 

* Trench. f Herbert. 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 57 

especially affect our fellow creatures. There is 
meekness or patience toward others, which 
bears rather than avenges a wrong, now little 
esteemed by some as too old-fashioned a virtue 
to suit their notions. I was once telling an ac- 
quaintance of the lovely Christian character of 
a laundress who made a fine art of all her hard 
work by doing it so beautifully. I spoke of 
her having borne patiently the heavier burden 
of a lazy husband, rather than fret or scold at 
him, thus making her home an abode of peace 
for her children, instead of discord. My hearer 
interrupted me with, " I don't think that was a 
Christian virtue ! ' Our Lord has a blessing for 
the meek, and S. Peter tells us that the fairest 
ornament a woman can wear is " a meek and 
quiet spirit, which is, in the sight of God, of 
great price. " Peace is a fruit of the Spirit; it 
is also a blessed thing to be a peacemaker; to 
help to heal the wounds, unwind the tangles, 
and smooth the friction of life. Brotherly kind- 
ness {we might call it sisterly kindness) is ever 
seeking the opportunity to help, comfort, and 
cheer another who may be a stranger, lonely, 
in difficulty or trouble. [How this virtue, in 
particular, would add to the beauty of our Band 
of Girls, and make the motto of ready help, a 
hope that always sees the best in others, a har- 
mony which is the result of love, a very real 



58 CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

thing. It is good to use our own little prayer 
at each Meeting, and our Lord's Prayer, which 
reminds us that we are all members of one Fam- 
ily.] The early disciples were sometimes called 
doves, from their gentle and loving character. 
Perhaps a common suffering, and the feeling 
that Heaven was so near at hand, endeared them 
to each other. 

We may have been thinking, during this talk, 
that the leading woman of our own day, and 
the general idea of the woman of the future, 
does not seem to represent this class of virtues. 
She is rather one who wishes to make her mark 
and attract the notice of the public. However 
that may be, we may well take the Blessed Vir- 
gin Mary as our example of Christian woman- 
hood, since she was chosen of God for the 
greatest honour ever bestowed upon woman. 

Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount refers to 
what we are rather than what we do, and of the 
manner in which we work rather than of its 
amount. The growing plant of Christian char- 
acter must naturally bear the fruit of good words 
and works. It is " from the abundance of the 
heart the mouth speaketh. ,, The good fruit of 
the lips will be kindness and wisdom. But the 
little member which S. James says is like a rud- 
der and can turn about the whole body, he also re- 
minds us must be bridled and under our control. 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 59 

11 A young man once went to an aged saint, 
and asked him for a rule to help him in spirit- 
ual living. The old man read aloud the first 
verse of the thirty-ninth Psalm : ' I will take 
heed to my ways that I offend not with my 
tongue/ * Stop/ cried the young man, ' when 
I have learned that, I will come for other rules. ' 
At the end of six months, and then at the end 
of a year, he declared that he had not yet 
learned this lesson. At the end of five years he 
said that he did not need any other rule, for 
having become master of his tongue, he had 
obtained control over his whole nature. " * 

It was thought by the ancients that the heart 
and tongue were connected by one string, and, 
as one of them observes, " the working is like 
that of a clock; when the wheels go around, 
the hammer will strike." Certainly words are 
often a vent for feelings of irritation, dislike, and 
disapprobation of others. i- When w r e are 
going to tell anything to the discredit of others, ' ' 
was a mother's advice, " let us see if it will 
pass through three sieves: first, is it true ? sec- 
ond, is it useful ? third, is it kind ? M We may 
well pause over the last question. " If you 
think that others are talking you over, you feel 
as if you were suffering martyrdom ; ,! and 
would you like to have a foolish or unkind 
* Bishop A. C. A. Hall, on Self-Discipline. 



60 CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

speech of your own repeated to another ? It 
was the advice of a beloved Pastor, " Choose 
things rather than people, as subjects for conver- 
sation/' The fruit of our lips is to give thanks 
to God's Name; and " a word" of cheer, of 
sympathy, of counsel, M spoken in due season, 
how good is it ! " 

The fruit of good works includes the every- 
day work of our lives. A Christian will do his 
or her work well and thoroughly, aiming " in 
trifles, to reach perfection, which is no trifle." 
" Not what, but how/* is a pithy little rule, 
which may help one not to slight sewing, house- 
work, or other duties, however distasteful they 
may seem. A slave girl was asked by her 
master what good it had done her to become a 
Christian. " I dunno, Massa, but now I sweeps 
under the mats," was the answer. 

" All may of Thee partake ; 
Nothing can be so mean, 
Which with this tincture, ' for Thy sake,' 
Will not grow bright and clean. 

" A servant, with this clause 
Makes drudgery divine ; 
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws 
Makes that and the action fine."* 

A Christian character will make room for 
some share in the work of Christ's Church, and 

♦Herbert. 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 6l 

give it the first place ; for we are a part of this 
Family, and Christ has committed to each indi- 
vidual member the work of leavening society 
with the knowledge and love of Him. 

We are perhaps interested in Associations 
which we think may be for our own welfare or 
that of others; but we must remember that any 
work which is Christian in spirit is the result of 
the presence and influence of Christ's Church 
in the world. I mean that if He had not estab- 
lished It, we should not have had any of the 
blessings of Christianity. Our Bible is a gift 
which we have received from the Church. If 
we are to do the truest good to humanity it 
must be by working with Christ in His Church. 
They cannot be divided, for He is the Head, 
and She is His Body. Whatever Her imperfec- 
tions may be here, She shall be " without spot, 
or wrinkle, or any such thing.' ' And the 
" Trees of righteousness, the planting of the 
Lord," " shall flourish in the courts of the 
House of our God ' ' in the Heavenly Jerusalem, 
" that He may be glorified/ * 



Zbc Character of Cbrfst 

We have often noticed with pleasure how a 
prism of cut glass will break the light into all 
the tints of the rainbow. Each lovely color 
represents the predominant virtue in the char- 
acter of the Christian. In one it is golden 
hope; in another, the violet tint of humility; in 
a third, the red of courage. But in the charac- 
ter of Christ, all the lovely hues are blended 
into the pure light; every virtue so perfectly 
developed that the color of each is again ab- 
sorbed into its source. 

11 As every lovely hue is light, 
So every grace is love." 

If we study the Beatitudes which begin 
Christ's Sermon on the Mount, we find that 
He is the perfect example of each blessed trait. 
S. Paul's description of charity is the descrip- 
tion of the character of Christ. Christ is our 
Example as well as our Atonement. And first, 
He is our Pattern of humility. " He humbled 
Himself" from a glory beyond our power to 
conceive, to become a helpless Infant in His 



THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 63 

mother's arms, dependent upon her to supply 
all His human needs. In the one incident re- 
corded of His youth in Holy Scripture, we 
have an example of humility in His subjection 
to the authority of His earthly parents. As 
He grew to man's estate, He showed humility 
in His daily toil for the support of His then 
widowed mother. A writer* on this subject 
says, " Jesus, the Son of GOD, working as a 
carpenter in the little village of Nazareth! 
There were no great people living about there, 
no one who could give Him a large order. His 
work lay among the poor, and would consist 
more in mending and repairing than in making. 
The repairing of the rough ploughs with which 
they tilled the ground, fitting new handles to 
spades and hoes, mending broken chairs and 
tables, and perhaps repairing a wagon, — this 
would be His best work, unless some repairs 
were needed in the village synagogue or school, 
or rough timber were wanted for the roof of 
some cottage. Think of the work of Jesus! 
How perfect it must have been, — no pains, no 
trouble spared ! When His work was badly 
paid, it was done just as well; when He worked 
for the poorest and lowest of the people, there 
was no difference in the quality of His work. 
In it all was the perfection of humility. For us 

* Wilson : " Readings on Humility." 



64 THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

He has hallowed work and made it a sacred 
thing; to work with our hands is humbling, but 
not degrading. In every parish there are so 
many odd jobs to be done, little things that 
will never bring us any credit ; and when we try 
to do them quite perfectly, simply for the sake 
of Jesus Christ, then we are sharing His hu- 
mility/ ' 

The same writer gives this remarkable con- 
trast of His humility during His public Ministry 
as a Teacher, to the best of heathen philoso- 
phers. 

M Once a rich young man came to Socrates, 
and asked how much it would cost to attend his 
lectures on philosophy. Socrates named a large 
sum as the price of his lectures. Now the phil- 
osophers had a saying amongst themselves that 
if any one was not a philosopher he was a slave, 
that is, a slave to himself ; and so when the rich 
young man answered that the price of his lec- 
tures was ridiculously high, and that he could 
buy a slave for less, Socrates replied, ' Buy him, 
and you will then have two/ When we turn 
to Jesus Christ, what a marvellous change we 
see ! A rich young man ran to Him, and kneeled 
down before Him, and said, * Good Master, 
what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life ? ' 
With what humility did our Lord endeavour to 
win this young man ! In the pride of his 



THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 65 

wealth, he had done much ; he had tried to keep 
the Commandments, and thought he had done 
so; but our Lord shewed him that there was 
one that he had not kept, — he was covetous, he 
loved his money and all that it meant to him. 
How gently and how lovingly our Lord hum- 
bled Himself to the level of this rich young 
man, and tried to wean him from his love of 
wealth. * Thou shalt have treasure in Heaven; 
come, take up thy cross, and follow Me/ " 

As our Sacrifice Christ " humbled Himself — 
even " to " the death of the Cross." And yet 
He was an example of courage. " He stead- 
fastly set His face to go to Jerusalem/' 
although He knew all that He should suffer 
there from the hatred of the rulers of His 
nation. And His moral courage was such that 
He never hesitated to speak the most distaste- 
ful truths to others, when it was necessary for 
the honour of His Father or the benefit of men. 

We read that in His childhood " He increased 
in favour with man," as w r ell as with GOD; un- 
doubtedly it was because He showed so much 
sympathy, friendliness, and compassion, — in a 
word, a pure, unselfish love for all. One of 
Raphael's lovely paintings represents Him as 
an Infant standing by His mother's knee, and 
putting out His little hand to protect a bird 
which an older child was handling roughly. 
5 



66 THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

The author of "Ben-Hur" gives a touching 
little incident, possibly gleaned from some 
legend, of the Child Christ's pity for and lov- 
ing treatment of a Jewish captive. " A youth 
who came up with Joseph, but had stood behind 
him unobserved, laid down an axe he had been 
carrying, and going to the great stone stand- 
ing by the well, took from it a pitcher of water. 
The action was so quiet that, before the guard 
could interfere, had they been disposed to do 
so, he was stooping over the prisoner, and offer- 
ing him drink. The hand laid kindly upon his 
shoulder awoke the unfortunate Judah, and, 
looking up, he saw a face he never forgot, — the 
face of a boy about his own age, shaded by 
locks of yellowish bright chestnut hair; a face 
lighted by dark blue eyes, at the time so soft, so 
appealing, so full of love and holy purpose, that 
they had all the pow r er of command and will. 
The spirit of the Jew, hardened though it was 
by days and nights of suffering, and so embit- 
tered by wrong that its dreams of revenge 
took in all the world, melted under the stran- 
ger's look, and became as a child's. He put his 
lips to the pitcher and drank long and deep. 
Not a word was said to him, nor did he say a 
word. When the draught was finished, the 
hand that had been resting upon the sufferer's 
shoulder was placed upon his head, and stayed 



THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 6? 

there in the dusty locks time enough to say a 
blessing; the stranger then returned the pitcher 
to its place on the stone, and, taking his axe 
again, went back to the Rabbi Joseph. All 
eyes went with him, the decurion's as well as 
those of the villagers. This was the end of the 
scene at the well. When the men had drunk, 
and the horses, the march was resumed. But 
the temper of the decurion was not as it had 
been; he himself raised the prisoner from the 
dust, and helped him on a horse, behind a sol- 
dier. The Nazarenes went to their houses, — 
among them Rabbi Joseph and his apprentice.' ' 
During His public Ministry, we have the Gospel 
record of that Life which was one continuous act 
of mercy and disinterested love. When He be- 
came wearied by His unceasing ministries to 
those in need, and seeking rest in a desert place, 
was still followed by the multitude, He was not 
moved with impatience, but with compassion, 
toward them. 

Although His days were so filled with the 
work of " going about doing good," He was 
never too busy nor wearied to pray and medi- 
tate, passing whole nights in communion with 
His Father on the mountain-tops, which are for- 
ever sacred places from the use which He made 
of them. We know that He was constantly in 
the Synagogues, taking part in the worship, and 



68 THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

delighting to be in the Temple, His Father's 
House ; also indignantly driving out those who 
would profane it by secular employments. How 
often we see people neglect all worship, and 
say in excuse: " If I am Christlike in my life, I 
am sure that my duty is fulfilled/ ' But such 
an answer will not be given by one who studies 
the record of that Life. 

It is a wonderful ideal which Hoffman has 
painted of the youthful Christ among the doc- 
tors. The expression of sweetness and humil- 
ity, of love, and yet of a glowing zeal, in the 
beautiful Face, holds one spellbound. He 
longed then to be about His Father's work, and 
throughout His earthly life His meat and drink 
was to do the will of Him that sent Him. 

Of all other virtues Christ is the perfect ex- 
ample. As He is love, so He is truth. To 
quote the words of an eloquent French writer :* 
" Jesus Christ was sincerity itself, and the in- 
vincible charm which is felt in contemplating 
and in listening to Him, comes from the inmost 
brightness of His physiognomy, by which He 
is seen from without wholly as He is. The Gos- 
pel shows us in the character of Jesus Christ a 
sublime intelligence ; a chaste and ineffable ten- 
derness of heart; a will absolutely certain of 
Himself/ ' 

* Lacordaire. 



THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 69 

A writer of an opposite school of thought 
says: 

' Men, women, and children, all who were 
natural, unconventional, simple in love and 
powerful in faith, ran to Him as a child to its 
mother. They felt the beauty of character 
which was born of sensibility to human feeling 
and spiritual wants, and they were bound to 
Him forever/ ' * 

If we admire and reverence another for some 
noble act, some exalted virtue, Christ shows 
the same virtue in perfection. He is the incom- 
parable hero. * ' He is altogether lovely. ' ' How 
poets will celebrate a great deed, extol a noble 
character, and our own hearts thrill with delight 
and admiration as we read or hear the eulogy ! 
But how few are fired with the desire to give 
praise and glory to the One who surpasses all 
others. 

" Why are not sonnets made of Thee ? and lays 

Upon Thine altar burnt ? Cannot Thy love 
Heighten a spirit to sound out Thy praise — 

Cannot Thy Dove 
Outstrip their Cupid easily in flight ? 
"Why doth that fire, which by Thy power and might 

Each breast does feel, no braver fuel choose 
Than that which, one day, worms may chance refuse ? 
Sure, Lord, there is enough in Thee to dry 

Oceans of ink ; for as the deluge did 

*Stopford A. Brooke. 



70 THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

Cover the earth, so doth Thy Majesty : 

Each cloud distils Thy praise, and doth forbid 

Poets to turn it to another use. 

Roses and lilies speak Thee ; and to make 

A pair of cheeks of them, is Thy abuse. 

Why should I women's eyes for crystal take ? 

Such poor invention burns in their low mind 

Whose fire is wild, and doth not upward go 

To praise."* 

We know, perhaps, what we ourselves are 
capable of ; what we could do or endure for the 
sake of one whom we love, or from pity for one 
in extreme distress. Perhaps we sometimes 
feel that we must beseech God before He will 
feel as much compassion or yearning affection 
as that which animates our own hearts. Yet 
our intensest feeling is but a faint reflection of 
His. 

" Would I to save my dear child dutiful, 

Dare the white breakers on a storm-rent shore ? 
Ay, truly, Thou all good, all beautiful, 

Truly I would, — then truly Thou would'st more. 

" Would I for my poor son, who desolate 

After long sinning, sued without my door 
For pardon, open it ? Ay, fortunate 

To hear such prayer, I would, — Lord, Thou would'st more. 

" Would I for e'en the stranger's weariness 

And want, divide, albeit 'twere scant, my store ? 
Ay, and mine enemy, sick, shelterless, 

Dying, I would attend, — O Lord, Thou more. 

* Herbert. 



THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 71 

11 In dust and ashes my long infamy 
Of unbelief I rue. My love before 
Thy love I set : my heart's discovery 

Is sweet, — whate'er I would, Thou would'st more. 

11 I was Thy shelterless, sick enemy, 

And Thou didst die for me, yet heretofore 
I have fear'd ; now learn I love's supremacy, — 
Whate'er is known of love, Thou lovest more." * 

Holy Scripture, throughout which, from Gen- 
esis to Revelation, the Character of Christ is 
inwoven like a thread of gold, now hidden, now 
appearing in its rich texture, has many names 
for our Blessed Lord to describe the many- 
sidedness of His Character. He is the Rock, 
the Foundation, and the Corner-stone; the 
Vine, the Root, and the Branch ; the Rose and 
the Lily ; the Fountain and the Bread ; the Sun 
and the Shield; the Door, the Way, the Ref- 
uge ; the Lamb, and the Shepherd ; the Physi- 
cian, the Friend, the Husband; the Prophet, 
Priest, and King. And these are not all that 
might be given. 

The contemplation of a model of perfect 
beauty and excellence might only depress us the 
more with the feeling of our own imperfection, 
and the hopelessness of attaining to such an 
ideal, were it not for the blessed fact that this is 
1 ' the Lord our Righteousness. ' ' All this glorious 
*Jean Ingelow. 



J2 THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 

excellence of character is ours, to supply our 
lack, to cover our defects. This is our " justi- 
fication by faith. 5 ' May we not with the poet 
think of Him as saying to each one of us: 

11 O heart I made, a Heart beats here ! 
Face My hands fashioned, see it in Myself. 
Thou hast no power, nor may'st conceive of Mine ; 
But love I gave thee, with Myself to love, 
And thou must love Me, who have died for thee."* 

Does not this wondrous love of our Redeemer 
14 constrain us' to give Him all of which our 
poor hearts are capable ? 

This precious season of Lent gives us the op- 
portunity to withdraw somewhat from the 
affairs of this world, and to think on these 
things. Its quiet days are full of comfort and 
strength for our spiritual nature. The develop- 
ment of Christian character will progress more 
rapidly under these favorable circumstances. 
New shoots will appear, to become fruit-bearing 
branches in after years. And the tree will be 
more firmly rooted, better able to withstand 
the chilling blasts of adversity ; and its foliage 
will still be kept green by the dews of the 
Spirit, in the dry and parching air of worldly 
prosperity. 

Our earthly life is a Lenten Season, — a way 
shadowed by cares and trials, yet leading to the 

* Browning. 



THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST. 73 

light. It is fit that we should " watch and 
pray," that when the radiance of the eternal 
Easter shall break upon our transported vision, 
we may "see" our Saviour's "Face," and 
" be satisfied with His likeness." 



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